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motherlanders) wrote2011-03-08 10:38 pm
motherlanders) wrote2011-03-08 10:38 pm
Entry tags:
Technology 101
Generally speaking the Motherland is technologically superior to the Outside, but to varying degrees. It has had things such as small cellphones, video phones in private houses, personal GPS tracking and small handheld computers since the late ’80s. Radio and satellite transmissions are common, and the latter are advanced enough to hijack signals from Outsider satellites without being detected. They have also invented a sort of nanotechnology in the form of Technical Machines, small discs which can be attached to a specialised syringe to inject its data and thus ‘adapt’ a pokémon to be able to use attacks it could not otherwise learn.
In terms of transport it is at once developed and backward: its ships and few helicopters were advanced in the ’80s and its trains are exceedingly fast. At the same time, there are no airfields and no planes, and cars are comparatively uncommon in a civilisation which relies on travelling light—usually they are used only for city travel and are built as such. In addition, firearms were unknown there until they were brought into the Motherland by Outsiders and the concept appropriated to give law enforcement personnel an edge over criminals. Even so, the trade is highly regulated and it is illegal for a civilian to own a gun of any kind.
Their medical technology and understanding of biology, chemistry and physics is more advanced due to their understanding of pokémon abilities, but due to the unique plant-life many people rely just as much on naturally-made remedies for non-lethal injuries and illnesses. Their ability to read the effects of energy on matter, detect radiation and assess the genome is also all quite advanced, due to the long-term effects pokémon energy can have on the bloodlines.
This radiation is one of the two unique things about the Motherland, a naturally-occurring phenomenon which makes the second unique thing possible. The latter is the technology of ‘pocketing’, as it’s colloquially called—that is, the ability to reduce and store physical matter on a comparatively miniscule scale.
Pokéballs
The harbingers to pokéballs were the apricorns, a naturally-occurring hard-skinned fruit different to normal fruit the same way pokémon are different to normal animals. Essentially, the inside skin of the fruit can absorb great amounts of certain types of passive energy; when hollowed out and fitted with appropriate locks, it can contain that energy indefinitely.
The apricorns’ properties were first discovered entirely by accident in the early 1800s, by a fisherman who used one of them as a fishing lure. The carvanha that bit down on the fruit was brought into its hollow centre, and it was only when the fisherman took a knife to the lure to make adjustments that it was released. From then on apricorns were developed as a means to capture and hold pokémon, though only to those with the means or the knowledge to have them created, such as gym leaders.
It was in the early 1900s that the pokéball was finally developed in a sufficiently cheap manner to be mass-produced, changing the face of pokémon training and therefore giving them their name, ‘pocket monsters’. In the same timeframe experiments were undertaken to determine why, exactly, it was pokémon and nothing else to which this could be done. In the end, it was determined to have to do with the energy they produced and the atomic and genetic makeup which allowed them to produce it.
Like apricorns, pokéballs are manufactured to have a soft inner surface—like webbing—which can contain great amounts of energy. Different sorts of pokéballs were created which could contain more powerful or certain types of energies, with the plain pokéball being the most basic and the hyperball, or ultraball, being the most powerful that is readily available.
Using psychics, the developers made certain that the process was neither painful nor psychologically torturous. Although the initial capture has the feeling of light-headedness, being in the pokéball is much like being in a state of sleepy, warm half-awareness. That said, the pokémon inside can hear outside sounds, particularly if they concentrate on them, and see vague shapes (or things nearby with relative detail). If wounded, the pokéball soothes the pain and ensures that the pokémon won’t die in the meantime.
Since pokéballs rely on containing passive energy, too much resistance tends to make the energy active and thus unsustainable, which is why pokémon need to be worn down before they can be captured. Such resistance destroys the pokéball’s ability to absorb energy at all. Similarly, pokémon which are completely unresisting may need to be captured with a strong type of ’ball if they are already powerful to begin with.
PCs
The PCs in the Centres and laboratories are specifically built to contain pokémon in much the same way as pokéballs, as well as transfer them long distances. They are all connected to a network, physical and cyber in nature. The latter works like a local area network, connecting data and allowing authorised personnel to access information regarding trainers’ pokémon, while the former allows pokémon to be transferred as energy into ‘boxes’.
These boxes are designed a little like a virtual reality, to give pokémon a dream-like setting they can inhabit which reacts much like a dream does—by changing. The boxes are also connected to multiple laboratories, whose staff regularly release, feed and exercise pokémon.
Although useful, there is a certain stigma attached to overusing the PCs and the League recommends that trainers leave their pokémon at reserves, breeding centres or if possible at home rather than in cyberspace. Indeed, there are certain laws which dictate that a pokémon left in the PC system for too long is regarded as ‘abandoned’, which can bring a hefty fine and the removal of the pokémon from the trainer’s care.
The PC creator, Bill, has stated outright that the system was not intended to be abused in such a way, merely facilitate the ability to transfer pokémon long distances or give them a temporary place to stay until a proper caretaker can be found. Previously, the PCs could also be used to transport items into a storage box, but since the ‘pocket’ technology has been developed to include bags this system is no longer in common use.
Bags
The ability to use pokéball technology for other purposes has been ongoing for years, but it wasn’t until ’91 that developers created bags capable of containing more than their dimensions could conceivably handle. Such bags came into common use for trainers by ’94.
These bags use pokéball technology in a similar way, but only on objects created with a special sort of atomic structure—whether man-created, as many trainers’ products began to be made around ’93, or naturally-created, such as with berry plants and evolution stones, and other items derived from them. The bags’ pockets are suited to certain types of structures, in order to categorise them, and retrieve items through an attached electronic dial (similar to that used on PCs).
However, the technology is still new and although reliable thus far, its longevity and what other side-effects it might have is unknown.
In terms of transport it is at once developed and backward: its ships and few helicopters were advanced in the ’80s and its trains are exceedingly fast. At the same time, there are no airfields and no planes, and cars are comparatively uncommon in a civilisation which relies on travelling light—usually they are used only for city travel and are built as such. In addition, firearms were unknown there until they were brought into the Motherland by Outsiders and the concept appropriated to give law enforcement personnel an edge over criminals. Even so, the trade is highly regulated and it is illegal for a civilian to own a gun of any kind.
Their medical technology and understanding of biology, chemistry and physics is more advanced due to their understanding of pokémon abilities, but due to the unique plant-life many people rely just as much on naturally-made remedies for non-lethal injuries and illnesses. Their ability to read the effects of energy on matter, detect radiation and assess the genome is also all quite advanced, due to the long-term effects pokémon energy can have on the bloodlines.
This radiation is one of the two unique things about the Motherland, a naturally-occurring phenomenon which makes the second unique thing possible. The latter is the technology of ‘pocketing’, as it’s colloquially called—that is, the ability to reduce and store physical matter on a comparatively miniscule scale.
Pokéballs
The harbingers to pokéballs were the apricorns, a naturally-occurring hard-skinned fruit different to normal fruit the same way pokémon are different to normal animals. Essentially, the inside skin of the fruit can absorb great amounts of certain types of passive energy; when hollowed out and fitted with appropriate locks, it can contain that energy indefinitely.
The apricorns’ properties were first discovered entirely by accident in the early 1800s, by a fisherman who used one of them as a fishing lure. The carvanha that bit down on the fruit was brought into its hollow centre, and it was only when the fisherman took a knife to the lure to make adjustments that it was released. From then on apricorns were developed as a means to capture and hold pokémon, though only to those with the means or the knowledge to have them created, such as gym leaders.
It was in the early 1900s that the pokéball was finally developed in a sufficiently cheap manner to be mass-produced, changing the face of pokémon training and therefore giving them their name, ‘pocket monsters’. In the same timeframe experiments were undertaken to determine why, exactly, it was pokémon and nothing else to which this could be done. In the end, it was determined to have to do with the energy they produced and the atomic and genetic makeup which allowed them to produce it.
Like apricorns, pokéballs are manufactured to have a soft inner surface—like webbing—which can contain great amounts of energy. Different sorts of pokéballs were created which could contain more powerful or certain types of energies, with the plain pokéball being the most basic and the hyperball, or ultraball, being the most powerful that is readily available.
Using psychics, the developers made certain that the process was neither painful nor psychologically torturous. Although the initial capture has the feeling of light-headedness, being in the pokéball is much like being in a state of sleepy, warm half-awareness. That said, the pokémon inside can hear outside sounds, particularly if they concentrate on them, and see vague shapes (or things nearby with relative detail). If wounded, the pokéball soothes the pain and ensures that the pokémon won’t die in the meantime.
Since pokéballs rely on containing passive energy, too much resistance tends to make the energy active and thus unsustainable, which is why pokémon need to be worn down before they can be captured. Such resistance destroys the pokéball’s ability to absorb energy at all. Similarly, pokémon which are completely unresisting may need to be captured with a strong type of ’ball if they are already powerful to begin with.
PCs
The PCs in the Centres and laboratories are specifically built to contain pokémon in much the same way as pokéballs, as well as transfer them long distances. They are all connected to a network, physical and cyber in nature. The latter works like a local area network, connecting data and allowing authorised personnel to access information regarding trainers’ pokémon, while the former allows pokémon to be transferred as energy into ‘boxes’.
These boxes are designed a little like a virtual reality, to give pokémon a dream-like setting they can inhabit which reacts much like a dream does—by changing. The boxes are also connected to multiple laboratories, whose staff regularly release, feed and exercise pokémon.
Although useful, there is a certain stigma attached to overusing the PCs and the League recommends that trainers leave their pokémon at reserves, breeding centres or if possible at home rather than in cyberspace. Indeed, there are certain laws which dictate that a pokémon left in the PC system for too long is regarded as ‘abandoned’, which can bring a hefty fine and the removal of the pokémon from the trainer’s care.
The PC creator, Bill, has stated outright that the system was not intended to be abused in such a way, merely facilitate the ability to transfer pokémon long distances or give them a temporary place to stay until a proper caretaker can be found. Previously, the PCs could also be used to transport items into a storage box, but since the ‘pocket’ technology has been developed to include bags this system is no longer in common use.
Bags
The ability to use pokéball technology for other purposes has been ongoing for years, but it wasn’t until ’91 that developers created bags capable of containing more than their dimensions could conceivably handle. Such bags came into common use for trainers by ’94.
These bags use pokéball technology in a similar way, but only on objects created with a special sort of atomic structure—whether man-created, as many trainers’ products began to be made around ’93, or naturally-created, such as with berry plants and evolution stones, and other items derived from them. The bags’ pockets are suited to certain types of structures, in order to categorise them, and retrieve items through an attached electronic dial (similar to that used on PCs).
However, the technology is still new and although reliable thus far, its longevity and what other side-effects it might have is unknown.